caste groups crosscut Indian society. Often there is also a difference in gender respect between urban and rural areas. The difference between the North and the South of the country are vast, especially when it comes to marriage and kinship.

When it comes to themes in the Indian society there are three things we mainly need to focus on. One being hierarchy and the other being purity and pollution. In a social aspect India is still a hierarchical society, no matter if north or south, hindu or muslim, urban or village, virtually all things, people, and social groups are ranked according to various essential qualities. This leads to certain difficulties in the society and on a political level. Although india is a democratic country there rarely is a complete equality between people, simply because of their social level. (“Asiasociety”).

In India it can happen that individuals are officially ranked according to their wealth and power. This means that successful or rich people are more important or have a higher say than people who are not successful. This does not happen all the time but it certainly can. (“Asiasociety”) Now even in countries such as Germany, USA, France, UK, etc. you can tell that individuals who are very successful often have a higher input simply through lobbying or contacts. The big difference is that it is not officially accepted by society, like it is in India.
Some status differences in India are expressed by their laws of purity and pollution. This includes different castes, religions, and regions around the country. In general a high status is associated with purity and a low status as polluted. Some rankings of purity are inherited as for example in the caste system. An Individual is born into a caste and cannot change it or rank up into another caste. Individuals might be born into a caste with a higher title than others in the same caste. Usually it is not permitted to marry outside of their caste, but it has been happening increasingly.

Although the standard of living in India is growing steadily as well as their middle class, in March of 2019 compared to the US the cost of living in India is 65.31% lower (aggregate date for all cities, except rent)(numbeo). According to “numbeo” rent in India is 84.99% lower than in the US.

As it can be observed the highest cost of living in India is 31.27 on the Index. The most expensive city to live in on average in India is Gurgaon. The cheapest one is Nagpur with a cost of living score of 22.73. An interesting observation is that the most expensive city “Gurgaon” and the cheapest city “Nagpur,” have the two highest “Local Purchasing Power Index” rankings.
Cost of Living by Location of City: